MONDAY IS ITALIAN BEEF DAY!

Of course you 've been waiting for the first Monday of the month to feed that craving you got. Just reminding you it's time to head on down to hank's for one of the best sandwich in town!

LANAKILA- The Good Table Benefit

So the day after we finishing the exhaustive shooting with Diners, Drive-In and Dives, we were committed to do an ambitious nine-course dinner for four at hank's. As part of the Meals on Wheels program for the elderly here, about fifty restaurants were doing special dinners at 6pm on Thursday October 22 in support of Lanakila, the mothership of this program. No not a hot dog dinner! We offered to do a repast of Trio, my former restaurant, selecting dishes that represent the styles of the great chefs that worked for me.

I fortunately had plenty of help enlisted to accomplish this. Estelle Kaya, former Dining Room Manager at Oahu County Club, lead the way in acquiring all the things needed to transform our space into a fine dining environment, I wanted an surrealistic oasis in middle of hank's . Willie Kaya, former chef at Pacific Club and biggest fan of Trio, prepared the fish course. Gerald Kuboyama, having worked service under Estelle, donated his skills. Our head cook Musab and manager Topher all put in countless hours to make this happen as well as collaborate on amuse and petit fours. Michael took the lead of service, having worked there for several years and Ashley did Dale's dish having been mentored by him. I am forever grateful to all of them in making this tribute dinner a reality.

John, Sky, Brent and Marcel were the perfect diners for this, all were avid wine aficionados, they brought around a total of 24 bottles of wine, WOW! They of course didn't drink them all, but did put a good dent in the collection selecting the best to be paired with the food and sharing freely with the staff. And boy these were some amazing wines, I wish I could remember them all!

Here's a look of the menu:

Presently Amused (hank’s)

A trio of haute dog canapes: lobster, rabbit and foie gras by our head cook, Musab

Caviar Palatte (Chef Rick Tramonto)

Black, wasabi, whitefish and salmon roe with accoutrements, egg whites, yolk, caper, onion, crème fraiche and toast points

(Magnum of 88 Dom Perignon Champagne)

Explosion (Chef GrantAchatz)

Liquid filled ravioli wonton, truffle scented mushroom broth, broccoli puree, parmesan shard

(06 Pouilly Fuisse)

French baguette, Plugra butter

Salmon wrapped in Potato

(Chef Shawn McClain)

pinot noir sauce, edamame,

(Richioli Pinot Noir)

Caprese Intermezzo

Shot of tomato water, smoked mozzarella, olive oil, SnP, basil

Braised Veal Cheeks (Chef Dale Levitski),

Red wine braised served with rosemary aromatics

and

Robuchon potato puree

(wine recall failing, was tasting a lot)

Root Beer Float- (Pastry Chef Gale Gand)

maple and cinnamon infused root beer granita, vanilla bean

ice cream and root beer(Hank)

(Tokai)

Fromage

Vermont Weston Wheel sheep’s milk, quince paste

Petit Fours

Tobacco infused chocolate truffles by Musab and manager Topher

Café Filtre

John Smiley and his guests got this for a steal even on the buy-now option, $225 total! Knowing this, they were very generous with gratuity that we all in turn donated back to Lanakila. Needless to say, they were all glowing after four hours of dining with us.

And we made the 9 o'clock news to boot!!

http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/22200/40/

More shots from Lanakila

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thegoodtable/sets/72157622519044783/show/with/4037099474/

DINERS, DRIVE-IN AND DIVES!

Well it was a hell of a week for us with DDD here shooting hank's for their show that will probably air late winter. Now that's a joke for us here in Hawaii, winter! Anyway we were ecstatic to have been selected, what luck, so many deserving places that could of got in! It did take a lot of work however, two 15 hour days of early mornings, hot lights and retakes, all the while trying to keep up with our regular biz. The filming crew made it fun though, Kari, Matt, David and Neil were all so cool, keeping us upbeat and into the whole process. They'll make us look good.

Guy was an amazing fireball of energy and humor, nonstop with the one liners! He loved the Chicago Dog, the Fat Boy and was gaga over the duck fat fries with Curry Ketchup. Even though he was initially skeptical, he was also surprised to find that the Lobster Dog was really a unique treat.

And what a Guy! He was a charmer with little Audrey.

The show will also feature Rainbow Drive-In, Poke Stop, Highway Inn and Nico's. Guy was really digging the food in Hawaii, Spam, Kahlua Pig, luau food and Pipikaula. The boy knows how to eat! What a life eh, tasting all the great joints across the country, my own personal fantasy.

D.. .D. .. DAWG?

OK, after having filmed for Diners, Drive-ins and Dives with Guy Fieri, we have to do something to honor the man's taste. He likes Kahlua Pork, loved our fat boy (bacon) and was gaga over the Curry Ketchup. There you go, we'll put them all together for him! We roll it out on Monday as a big MAHALO to Guy and DDD for having us on their show.

HOT O DOGGU

After a shoot day with (DDD0 this weekend perhaps I can squeeze in monday's special at the eleventh hour. I've been hard pressed to come up with a Japanese inspired dog and finally

come up with one that I feel good about. Simply done it is a marriage of flavors

familiar in Japanese cuisine, we dress an all-beef dog dressed with miso-ginger mayo and top it with takuan, scallion and furikake.

Can you say oishi!?

TERI-LICIOUS

About time eh, don't know why we didn't think of it earlier, but of course a... Teri Dog! A most excellent all-beef dog topped with hank's teriaki glaze, loads of mayo, lettuce and tomato. Oh man, is that good and only $4.45. Come on local boy, you know you want one!

UH... UH ... DA BEEF!

Like I have to remind you it's the first Monday of the month? Nah, you know...

COME AND GET YOUR ITALIAN BEEF!!!